Jennifer Lopez Is Done With Hollywood’s ‘Insulting’ Thought That Women Only Want To Watch Rom-Coms

Jennifer Lopez isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Between her music, films, brand partnerships, family, and of course, husband Ben Affleck, the 54-year-old star has a lot on her agenda, but she wants to challenge Hollywood to think outside the box when it comes to telling women’s stories. She’s simply asking them to do better. 

Now that Lopez has the power to produce and create scripts from the ground up, she’s looking to discover “uplifting, empowering stories, and entertaining stories, and gangster movies” in the years ahead. “I want to do everything that men do. I want to do all of it,” she told ELLE magazine. She’s tired of movie studios thinking that women only want cute rom-coms because she finds that nothing but “insulting.” She added, “[Women] have been leaders of countries. We have run empires; we have done all of these things throughout history, and we should tell all of those stories.”

This level of power is a big change for Lopez who had “to fight for different roles” earlier in her career, especially when it came to romantic comedies. In those challenging days it was about pitching herself “to be a lead in a romantic comedy—to not play the maid or the housekeeper.” That’s why her charming turn in The Wedding Planner is such a classic — Lopez took that role and ran with it because it was finally her turn to shine. Now, she wants to do the same with other genres of film for women. 

She’s ready to tell stories of women over 50, something Hollywood rarely tackles in film. “The idea of, ‘There’s nothing really valuable about watching a woman over 30’ is so ridiculous, it’s the opposite of right,” Lopez noted. “It just makes me laugh.”

She’s ready to work and has the ability to make change in how women’s stories are told in all seasons of life. “People have realized that women just get sexier as they get older. They get more learned and more rich with character,” she stated confidently. “All of that is very beautiful and attractive, and not just physically, but on the inside, the beauty that you gain as you get older, the wisdom you gain.” The best era of J.Lo is yet to come.

Before you go, click here to see all of our favorite Jennifer Lopez movies!